Gandhi weighed less than 100 pounds
when I was born
wore garment round lower vitals
of cloth he’d spun
while thinking how to move people
thru slag of inert idea & outrage
with song & firm step
along dusty roads in hot suns
taking chances among desperate unknowns.

By chance
I found out about him
& delved into his doings
3rd floor downtown Chicago Public Library
traffic blaring thru Prudential Building shadow
under flocks of Grant Park pigeons
years after his death
& still his focused life drives me

tho he’s dead
& Woody Guthrie’s dead
& several unknowns of the species
I’ve encountered
who’ve died many times since myself
& live to testify.